Lightning Strike Juniper Stump

This is an outdoor patio seat/table/something to look at. This piece was harvested from a juniper tree that had been struck by lightning who knows how many years ago and half the tree was killed. Its amazing how hard it is to kill a juniper tree, the new growth will just start to wrap around the parts that die. I sanded this down starting with a grinder with a 40grit flap wheel. I then used two orbital sanders (one in each hand) with 120grit and then 220grit. I finished with 320grit hand sanding, and then wet sanded on the first coat of tung oil with 600grit. I applied 3 coats of hand rubbed Tung Oil and a final coat of hand rubbed satin polycrylic. I wanted to put a few more on but I was out of time as this was a commissioned project that is a gift for fathers day. I wound up with about 14 total hours in the project.

Love that juniper. Very nice application. Wow, the finish process! Where do you get your 40 grit flap wheel, if I might ask? I’ve used some real cheapo 60 grit wheels, but would like something a little more aggressive to do the rough sanding. Again, great project. Hope the client was happy – I know I would be.

Thank you. I get the flap wheels from Home Depot. It cost around $5 and lasted through 3 stumps…still has a bit of life left on it. Very nice for the rough shaping, it really makes a lot of dust in a hurry!!!